Where are Brits most likely to challenge a parking ticket, or argue with traffic wardens?

Walking back to your car and seeing a ticket slapped on the windscreen is one of life’s biggest curses – and it’s especially annoying if you believe you've been unfairly hit.

But unfortunately parking fines are a growing problem in Britain, with a staggering 12 tickets issued every minute between October and December 2017. So what do the majority of us do when we’re faced with a fine? Do we dispute it? Or do we pay the fine?

Car leasing company Cars On Demand conducted a survey of 3,000 drivers to discover how we react to parking tickets and traffic wardens, and to find out how many able-bodied Brits would swoop into a disabled space if we thought we could get away with it. Here are the results:

According to the survey, 25.8% of Brits have challenged a parking fine. And it seems men are more likely to put up a fight – or, perhaps more believe they are in the right – as 28.6% of men would contest a parking fine, compared to 23% of women.

But where in the UK are Brits most likely to challenge a parking ticket?

It was revealed that the Northern Irish are most likely to challenge a parking fine, with 1 in 3 people admitting they’d put up a fight (34.3%). Those in the East Midlands and North East also think they can beat a parking ticket – or at least like to give it a good go – with 34.1% and 33% revealing they’d try and contest the ticket.

Interestingly, it is the Scots who are the least likely to challenge a fine, with only 18.9% trying to get out of paying. This was closely followed by those in the South West (20%), then those in the West Midlands (22.4%).

Cars on Demand have created an infographic that clearly reveals where in the UK Brits are most likely to challenge a parking ticket (see above).

Given that 1 in 4 Brits would contest a parking fine, it’s not surprising that the study revealed that 12% of Brits have actually argued with the traffic warden issuing a parking fine! Again, it is men who are more likely to put up the fight, with 17% admitting they’ve argued with the warden, compared to just 7% of women.

And if you are a parking warden – you wouldn’t want to be based in the East Midlands! The survey revealed that those from East Midlands are the most likely to argue with a warden about their ticket, with 19.2% admitting they wouldn’t just take the ticket quietly. This was followed by those in the South West (18.2%), and then the North West, with 16.1% saying they’d put up a fight.

On the other hand, you’d have a much easier life as a traffic warden in the West Midlands, as only 4.7% of locals would try and argue about their ticket. Those in Wales and the North East are also non-contentious, with only 5.6% and 6.6% of respective respondents saying they’d pick a fight when faced with a parking ticket.

Clearly parking can be a pain in Britain – but just how low would we go to get the ideal space?

Parking in a disabled space when you don’t have a disability is considered an extremely selfish act, but unfortunately a lot of Brits do it – with the survey revealing that 1 in 10 Brits (9.4%) would park in a disabled parking space if they thought they could get away with it. Men are more often the culprits, with 11.9% revealing they’d swoop into a disabled space, compared to just 6.9% of women. Shame on you!

So where can we expect to find these culprits?! Well, the study revealed that they’re in the North East, Northern Ireland and the South West, with a not insignificant 16.7%, 15.8% and 12.7% of respective locals admitting they’d park in a disabled space if they could get away with it.

On the other end of the scale, those in the West Midlands have the best parking etiquette in the country, with only 4.2% admitting they’d nab a disabled spot. Those in the North West and East Midlands are also respectful of disabled drivers, with only 4.3% and 6.3% admitting they’d park in a disabled bay.

But really it’s no surprise that so many Brits challenge parking tickets, seeing as the survey by Cars On Demand found that 68.8% of us think parking fines are just a money-making scheme from the local council, rather than a way of deterring people from breaking the rules.

In addition to this, 46.7% of Brits state that they would struggle to pay a parking fine – which is probably another reason why so many people try to wiggle their way out of it.

Commenting on the survey results, Paul Brown, Managing Director at Cars On Demand said: “Our survey shows that nearly half of Brits would struggle to pay a parking fine, emphasising how important it is not to park somewhere you are not authorised to park! That said, you don’t always have to take a parking ticket lying down. If you’re adamant you weren’t in the wrong, make sure to gather as much evidence as you can in your defence, and appeal to avoid paying up.”